FAU College of Engineering and
Computer Science Dedicates its New Green Building

BOCA
RATON, FL (November 17, 2010)–
Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and
Computer Science dedicated its new facility on Friday, November 5,
at FAU’s Boca Raton campus. The innovative,
97,000-square-foot, living-learning laboratory is the first newly
constructed academic building in southeast Florida to be designed
and built to U.S. Green Building Council LEED® (Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum level standards –
the highest level in the Green Building Rating System™.
“This living-learning laboratory and showcase for green
practices and technologies provides a strong foundation for our
College’s broad educational and research efforts to advance
the principles of sustainability through the multiple communities
we serve,” said Karl K. Stevens, Ph.D., dean of the College
of Engineering and Computer Science.
Along with Stevens, also participating in the dedication were FAU
President Mary Jane Saunders; Dennis Crudele, senior vice president
for financial affairs at FAU; and State Senator Jeremy Ring. Also
in attendance were Marleen Forkas, FAU Foundation board member;
Pete LoBello, FAU Foundation board member; Armand Grossman, FAU
Board of Trustees member; Susan Whelchel, City of Boca Raton mayor;
Susan Haynie, City of Boca Raton deputy mayor; Troy McLellan, The
Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce president; Bill Hager, State
Representative; and Lori Berman, State Representative.
The high-performance facility will place FAU, the College, as well
as its surrounding communities at the national forefront of energy
conservation and environmental stewardship efforts while acting as
a catalyst for the creation of more sustainable infrastructures.
The dynamic space includes classrooms,
teaching labs, meeting rooms, study and workstations, reading
lounges, food service venues and recreational/entertainment areas.
The building will serve as an important showcase for
“green” buildings, system design strategies and
sustainable building management practices. “Engineering on
display” is visible throughout the building by way of
touch-screen components allowing access to real-time data collected
by sensors and online systems, which will be infused into
sustainability research projects and courses offered within the
College.
Construction waste from the project was recycled, and renewable
building products and materials were purchased and/or used from
within a 500-mile radius of the Boca Raton campus. Building
features that assisted in it being built to Platinum certification
include a server room where waste heat is captured to control water
temperatures for the chilled beam system; high-efficiency lighting
systems partnered with solar hot water heating and a 54 KW
photovoltaic array; highly reflective “cool roofs”
which reduce solar heat gain to the building’s interior,
reducing cooling requirements; and a roof garden, exhibiting native
plants irrigated with condensation collected into a cistern from
the air conditioning system.
An appropriation of $43 million from the state’s Public
Education Capital Outlay (PECO) program funded the facility. In
addition, a $50,000 planning grant for sustainable design was
received from The Kresge Foundation Green Building Initiative.
Leo A. Daly was the architect for the project, and construction was
handled by James A. Cummings, Inc., a Perini Corporation.
For more information, contact Marc Kozlin at 561-297-1399 ormkozlin1@fau.edu.

-FAU-

About
Florida Atlantic University:

Florida Atlantic
University opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public
university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than
28,000 undergraduate and graduate students on seven campuses and
sites. Building on its rich tradition as a teaching university,
with a world-class faculty, FAU hosts 10 colleges:the
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts
& Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design
and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College
of Engineering & Computer Science, the Graduate
College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E.
Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of
Nursing and theCharles E. Schmidt College of Science. For more
information, visitwww.fau.edu.